Book Review: Faith Under Fire

Faith Under FireI picked up Matthew Archbold’s book, Faith Under Fire: Dramatic Stories of Christian Courage with the intention of reading about Mother Antonia Brenner, who was featured in my own book last year and continues to fascinate me. My intention with this kind of book was to read around the chapters, reading one story today, maybe another tomorrow. I thought it would be a good bedstand book.

It didn’t happen that way. As I was flipping through the pages my eye caught Lauren Hill’s name. If you don’t know who she is, get the book today and turn to chapter six. Do it.

Lauren is my hero. We both loved basketball. We both longed to play in college. She got her dream.

You might remember seeing something in the news about this courageous young woman sometime last year. She was the high school basketball player diagnosed with cancer. When her condition worsened, the head basketball coach at Mount St. Joseph’s University arranged it for Lauren to achieve her dream and play basketball in college.

I wept. Her story is remarkable — and not because she achieved her dream. What a courageous young woman, to turn the disease, and the granting of her wish, into an opportunity to raise awareness and research funds for this childhood disease.

I was drawn to the story because college basketball was once my dream. But then, I was moved by Lauren’s trust in God that her life, however short, had a purpose for education and inspiration.

This is just one of many examples of lives lived courageously for the Glory of God’s Kingdom. You can savor it, one story at a time, or you can gobble it up like I did, and read it in two or three evenings. You’ll be inspired.

 

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Servant (July 29, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632530945
ISBN-13: 978-1632530943
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8.4 inches

Book Review: The Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion

The Catholic Mom's Prayer Companion

I’m back again in the book review mode, and it’s a pleasure to share this one with you because, guess what? I share a few reflections  with you in this book, and I’m honored to be in the company of some stellar catechists and writers such as Danielle Bean, Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, Sonja Corbitt, Elizabeth Ficocelli, Allison Gingras, Pat Gohn, Lisa Mladinich, Elizabeth Scalia, and Carolyn Woo, Mark Hart, and Jeff Young!

What a pleasure to be working with anything that Lisa Hendey and Sarah Reinhard produce…this is truly a gift for moms in any season…whether you’re dashing out the door to get the kids to school on your way to work, or staying up waiting for a teen to get home…or like me, praying for kids launched and in the world of work and new relationships. There’s something for everyone here.

I know this is going to be a part of my mornings, but it can fit anywhere in the day. The point is, as moms, we pray. We pray a lot — and this little companion has reflections to lift us up, console us, amuse us, and help us develop a habit of daily prayer. It’s like having a girl friend along to pray. Unless you’re one of the guys writing the reflection, then it’s like…no…it’s not like having your boyfriend along, but it is great to have a dad’s perspective every once in a while, too.

Order a few copies…one for yourself, and a couple to share with sisters or friends.

 

The Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion
A Book of Daily Reflections

Edited by: Lisa M. Hendey
Edited by: Sarah A. Reinhard
Price: $16.95
Format: Paperback
Pages: 544
Trim size: 5 x 7 inches
ISBN: 978-1-59471-661-4
Imprint: Ave Maria Press
On-sale now

 

Review: Little Sins Mean a Lot

little sinsFull disclosure: I knew I wanted this book , Little Sins Mean a Lot by Elizabeth Scalia since last year, so to say I have been looking forward to its publication so I could inhale it chapter after chapter is a bit of an understatement. This is the kind of book that I want to gobble up greedily like the giant bowl of ice cream prepared after the kids were asleep and the husband was engrossed in the football game. Swallowed up and finished quickly and leaving no evidence…until chapter 4 convicted me of my own little sin of over-indulgence. And chapter 5 waggled its finger at me for gossiping. And chapter 8 punished me with my own snarky judgmentalism (is that a word? Nah, I don’t think so).

The book became an examination of conscience — and folks, it slows you down when you start doing an examen like this.

On the upside, I went to confession, so that’s a win.

I knew I’d love the book because I’ve loved Scalia’s writing for many years. If you haven’t read Strange Gods…what’s wrong with you? Get on it!

And then, of course, there’s this one, Little Sins Mean a Lot: Kicking Our Bad Habits Before they Kick Us. In this collection of essays reflecting on the little things we do that pick away at us and lead us down the path of sin, Scalia reflects on her life and how these habits have taken hold of her. It’s not an exposé, and certainly not a holier-than-thou parade of how she has overcome these sinful habits, but rather, an authentic sharing of how she, we are all a mess in varying degrees, and boy could we use some strategies to change these behaviors.

That’s what I love about this book, the strategies. Every chapter talks about the bad habit-becoming-sin, gives a marvelous and eclectic selection of sources that explain the Church’s position on the sin (of course scripture and the Catechism, but so much more), and then offers some advice on actionable steps we can take to overcome this habit, because it is a habit, this concupiscence. Finally, she calls us to prayer — how else can we find the strength to overcome these sins?

In the front matter, before the table of contents, is nestled a pair of quotations that delight me, but then again, I’m a fan of both women :

Don’t let your sins turn into bad habits. — St. Teresa of Avila

Don’t let your bad habits turn into sins. — Elizabeth Scalia

There’s no denying the causal relationship of habits and sin. But there’s also no need to get so jacked up about it that we despair. This book recommends the strategies, sure, but also offers hope in gems like this:

… if we would only invite [God] in, he would come. And then, where God is, what has been empty becomes full; what has been dark becomes light; what has been plundered can be made whole.

There’s hope in that. God wants so much more for us than the small ways we sell ourselves short.

 

Little Sins Mean a Lot: Kicking Our Bad Habits Before They Kick Us
by Elizabeth Scalia
published by Our Sunday Visitor

 

 

 

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